Brain Tumor Tropism of Transplanted Human Neural Stem Cells Is Induced by Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

Nils Ole Schmidt; Wojciech Przylecki; Wendy Yang; Mateo Ziu; Yang Teng; Seung U. Kim; Peter Mcl. Black; Karen S. Aboody; Rona S. Carroll

doi:10.1593/neo.04781

Neoplasia: An International Journal for Oncology Research (Jun 2005)

Brain Tumor Tropism of Transplanted Human Neural Stem Cells Is Induced by Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

Nils Ole Schmidt,
Wojciech Przylecki,
Wendy Yang,
Mateo Ziu,
Yang Teng,
Seung U. Kim,
Peter Mcl. Black,
Karen S. Aboody,
Rona S. Carroll

Affiliations

Nils Ole Schmidt: Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Wojciech Przylecki: Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Wendy Yang: Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Mateo Ziu: Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Yang Teng: Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Seung U. Kim: Division of Neurology, UBC Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Peter Mcl. Black: Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Karen S. Aboody: Divisions of Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, and Neurosciences, City of Hope Cancer Center and Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, CA, USA
Rona S. Carroll: Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1593/neo.04781
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 7, no. 6
pp. 623 – 630

Abstract

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The transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) offers a new potential therapeutic approach as a cell-based delivery system for gene therapy in brain tumors. This is based on the unique capacity of NSCs to migrate throughout the brain and to target invading tumor cells. However, the signals controlling the targeted migration of transplanted NSCs are poorly defined. We analyzed the in vitro and in vivo effects of angiogenic growth factors and protein extracts from surgical specimens of brain tumor patients on NSC migration. Here, we demonstrate that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is able to induce a long-range attraction of transplanted human NSCs from distant sites in the adult brain. Our results indicate that tumorupregulated VEGF and angiogenic-activated microvasculature are relevant guidance signals for NSC tropism toward brain tumors.

Published in Neoplasia: An International Journal for Oncology Research

ISSN: 1522-8002 (Print); 1476-5586 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neoplasia/

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